New Browns owner Jimmy Haslam III shakes hands with former team president Mike Holmgren after being introduced / (Photo by John Reid, courtesy Cleveland Browns/NFL)
Reporting Daryl Ruiter
CLEVELAND (92.3 The Fan) - It has been assumed that once Jimmy Haslam III is approved this month as owner of the Browns that the house cleaning will immediately begin.
Not so fast.
In an interview with FOX Business, Haslam told the network that he has no plans to make any decisions on personnel right away.
“We don’t officially own the team yet, and we’ve said all along that we’re not going to make any comments on personnel changes until after we own the team,” Haslam told the network. “It’s in about two weeks, and candidly we’ll be halfway through the football season so any personnel decisions we make would be made toward the end of the year.”
NFL owners are scheduled to meet Oct. 16-17 in Chicago where they are expected to approve the sale of the team to Haslam for $1 billion.
The sale put the futures of president Mike Holmgren, general manager Tom Heckert and coach Pat Shurmur in doubt.
The Browns are currently off to an 0-4 start to the season which Haslam as well as the organization is not happy about.
“I don’t think anybody thinks that 0-4 is acceptable and certainly Mike Holmgren and Pat Shurmur don’t think it is, and we don’t think it is,” Haslam said. “But this is a young team, it’s building, I think we’re heading in the right direction.”
Haslam was once again in Berea Thursday to take in the team’s practice in preparation for Sunday’s game in New York against the Giants but was not available for additional comment other than a brief statement through a team spokesman.
“It’s not something we’d discuss until after the year.”
